Amity City
by Draxen47
Summary: Every Great Hero has their Great City, their Great Metropolis. It's the dawn of a new world for Amity City, one full of both dangers and wonders, and now it needs that Great Hero to take up it's mantle and protect it. AU.
1. Chapter 1

I can't really remember what happened that day. Not a single thing as a matter of fact. A lot of people look at me weirdly when I tell them that. Yeah, it was a pretty traumatic moment in my life, but I was two years old, give me a break. You think I wouldn't like to know how I turned out that way? A cripple, handicapped and sick, meagerly subsisting on pills and experimental medicine for 14 years, and then off to risking my life every single day for people I don't even know? Ah, jeez, now I'm whining. See what you made me do.

Ahem, anyways, where was I. Oh yes, my tortured past. Well, I'm not gonna sugar-coat it that much, it did kinda suck. But as it so happens that I can't remember my life before my little incident, it wasn't like I really knew what I was missing. I didn't have any perspective to go on. Not that I have any now either. In fact, my perspective is probably worse now. At least when I was sick, there were still other people in similar positions. Now, well, you'll have to keep reading, I guess.

So it really did start 14 years ago. With the accident. You still paying attention here? Good. To get the full story you'd have to weasle it out of my parents (which probably won't happen seeing as I've been trying the same thing for at least a decade), consorting with the darkest of powers (again, not recommended unless you're prepared to give up your oh so precious soul), or somehow going back in time (if I have to explain why this is a bad idea with all the possible world ending paradoxes, alternate timelines, and accidentally crossing over into a world filled with colorful ponies (don't ask) then maybe you picked up the wrong tale to read here). In other words, you're royally screwed, I'm royally screwed, and cross dimensional traveling sucks.

I can tell you however that whatever happened that night made me what I am today. Or at least started it. It took a hell of a long time to get from there to here. Luckily for you, I'm just gonna skip to the point where things really started getting interesting in this place, glossing over a lot of key moments in my life, like being separated from my only friend, the fragility and struggle of growing up infected with highly concentrated ectoplasm, and even the necessary foreknowledge you're supposed to have about the spirits of the dead, because, well, it's frickin' hilarious. Just imagining that confused look on your face while trying to keep up still makes me chuckle. And because I'm lazy. It's really a win-win for me.

And did I mention that I live in a city? Yeah, Amity City, Supernatural Capital of the World. What? Expecting a little quaint town, in the middle of Supernatural Nowhere? Ohoho no, that would be way too easy. Nah, crank it up to insanity difficulty and set phasers for annihilation because everyone knows that the more the merrier. And by merrier I mean absolute chaos.

Hmmm… I think I've taken enough of your time, so without further ado… wait a second. Did I even tell you my name? No, of course I didn't. Well, it's good to meetcha reader, my name is…

XxX

"Daniel Fenton." Each syllable of my name was droned out with enthusiasm of a Phone Operator, enunciating every letter to its most monotone.

"Here," I replied with the same vigor.

"Grant Fiore…" The teacher continued, "Grant Fiore… Grant Fiore! Raise your hand!" One of my classmates near the back jumped a bit at that, him and his friends going silent from their discussion as they turned to the teacher.

"Uh, sorry, here, I'm here," Grant said. The teacher glared at him for a couple more seconds before finally checking his name off too.

"Valerie Gray… Valerie Gray!" He looked up from his list again to find said student still embroiled in a conversation amongst the others in her niche. A scowl cracked his already aggravated visage, and the aging clipboard croaked in protest under his grip.

I sighed tiredly as he began to chew all of _us_ out for _their_ disrespectful behavior, going on about this and that and pretty much just wasting time. Glancing around at the sterile world my class had entered, from its white-washed walls to the similarly clad scientists, I almost missed the synthetic taint in the air, something I'd become accustomed to over the years.

A familiar grasping sensation sprouted from my lungs, not really so much as painful as it was uncomfortable. Taking out my puffer, I shook it a couple of times, pressing the button and breathing the chemicals in. The feeling subsided.

Our teacher, having finally finished his tirade by that time, checked off the rest of the class with relative ease, finishing the last student in our alphabetical lineup just as a man dressed in a suit approached us.

"Valerie! Vally-baby! How's my little girl doing?" He rushed forward and enveloped Valerie Gray in a giant hug, seemingly not noticing her struggles to get him off.

Valerie turned a shade of red more commonly found on firetrucks as everyone around her started laughing. "D-Dad, s-stop it you're embarrassing me!" I blinked. Now that I looked twice I could definitely see the resemblance between the two. They both shared the same caramel skin and green eyes, and I guess the general facial structure as well, but you'd probably find more similarities with her mother in that area.

Mr. Gray kept his daughter enveloped for a few more seconds before finally letting her go, where she promptly crossed her arms and glared at him from a safe distance. He laughed it off good-naturedly, and turned to the rest of the class.

"Hello students of Casper High! If we haven't already met I'm Mr. Gray, Valerie's Dad." He smiled at his daughter, earning himself another glare as she continued to blush fiercely in front of front of all her giggling friends. Mr Gray chuckled and continued, "I can tell you're all in for a treat today! There's stuff going on in this place that wows me everyday, and I work here!" He broke off into another round of laughter, and despite his apparent goofiness managed to get most of the class to join in with how contagious it was.

That's when our worm of a teacher prostrated himself in front of Mr. Gray, practically scrapping at the floor as he thanked him on behalf of the school, himself, and all the Students of Casper High School for this great educational experience. I gotta hand it to Mr. Gray though, his expression didn't even twitch as he dealt with what was arguably one of the lowest life forms on the planet.

Annoying chaperone out of the way, Mr. Gray led us to one of the scientists that wasn't bustling around trying to look as busy as possible. This one was waiting next to a steel door that seemed more at place with a vault than a research laboratory. Clapping the scientist on the shoulder with gusto, Mr. Gray introduced him as Dr. Gauss, one of the leading researchers currently working there. Which was kind of surprising, considering he didn't look much older than us.

Adjusting his glasses, and shrugging Mr. Gray's hand off as well, Dr. Gauss started dissecting us individually with his eyes, causing many to flinch or wriggle uncomfortably as his gaze passed over them. They stopped for a split-second on me, registering stunned surprise as if he knew me, before they finally continued on to torment the rest of the class.

"Let us get one thing straight," he began suddenly, a superior sneer dragging itself horribly across his face, "while our security liaison, Mr. Gray, and the people that finance our work in this facility believe that showing a group of children around one of the most expensive and highly regarded setups for pushing the scientific boundary in the world as a good idea, _I_, do not. You will therefore through the course of your tour not touch anything, you will not interrupt me, or any of the ongoing experiments currently being conducted, and you will absolutely never leave the group at any time. Many sections of this department of research are dedicated to studying some extremely dangerous subjects, and should one of you happen to die or get injured it would severely hamper our ability to continue our work here. Do not let your stupidity get in the way of scientific advancement," he ended by turning around and walking away with a disgusted sniff, which may or may not have been sent in my direction. I could only guess as to why.

The rest of the class were a lot more vocal in their thoughts however.

"What a dick!"

"Yeah, what's up with this guy?"

"Isn't he part of our class?"

"No dumbass. He's some kind of genius or something. It was a big deal a couple of years ago."

"Sooo, he's like Doogie Howser?..."

"...Who the fuck is Doogie Howser?"

"What? Doogie Howser is that kid… that was a doctor… he was played by Neil Patrick Harris. Anyone? Ah, screw it!"

"..."

"..."

"...that guy was kinda hot, though."

Okay, now they're just getting seriously off-track.

"Ehem," Mr. Gray interrupted, "Don't worry about him. He's just a little bit miffed from the previous group we brought here." He pointed towards a hallway, a dual figurine of a man and a woman stuck in the wall a little ways down it. "That's the restroom, I suggest you use it now, it doesn't seem like you're going to get another chance. Meanwhile I'm going to get the rest of your tour cleared in our systems, and make sure the security measures are well and truly off. Don't want a repeat of last time, now do we..." He left off lost in thought, before departing from our group toward and leaving us with our teacher.

Very reassuring.

Everyone else clustered into groups while they waited. I just sort of stood awkwardly thinking about whether or not they would even show us any of the good stuff. Hopefully they would. I might even be able to get some good ideas to work on when I got back to my parents' lab.

"You're Danny right, Danny Fenton?" A voice questioned inquisitively from behind me. The question itself wasn't really a question though, more of a formality; I'm pretty sure everyone in Casper High knows who I am. But I played along anyways, like I always do.

"Yeah, me? Yep, I'm Danny. Fenton that is. I mean you can call me Danny! Not Fenton. Wait! No! I mean..." Holy crap how was I messing this up so badly. I might as well just encase by body in cement and throw myself into the sun before this gets any worse. I'd need to rework on of my spacecraft designs but I'm pretty sure I could manage it.

"Whoa! Whoa! Slow down there!" The girl (Freaking perfect I know!) looked familiar but I couldn't place a name with her face. She was around the same height as me, so on the short side, even for a girl. I probably weighed less than her. Heh, look at me. Making all the girls jealous. Ugh, even in my head that was bad.

"Well… _Danny_," she stressed, raising an eyebrow, "I'm Emma Knight. I run the school paper, _The Phantasm_, and I was thinking that writing about Axion labs would be a pretty good idea seeing as we're getting a tour of the place." Oh. Now I remember her. I don't think I ever talked to her before this, and me obviously being me meant there was never a reason to.

"Uh, yeah, sure, makes sense, I guess. But what does that have to do with me?" I questioned suspiciously.

"You're parents are scientists, right?" she asked, "you've got to have at least some inkling of all the stuff that goes on in this place. I could really use some help here."

I frowned, really concerned about the direction this conversation was going. "Yeah, they're scientists," I confirmed a bit hesitantly, "but not really the kind you're thinking of." And not exactly the most sane either.

"Oh yeah, haven't you heard?" someone interposed loudly, "His parents hunt ghosts!" Crap. Now that was one voice I really did not want to hear; preferably after the Earth revolved around the Sun several more times.

Sauntering his way over, the quintessence of Aryan Perfection inserted himself between us, basically taking my place and forcing me to backpedal into the people standing behind me. The thought of resistance barely even occurred to me as I lowered my head and tried to stay as unnoticeable as possible. Judging from the look in Dash's eyes though he was going to make this really unpleasant.

"I'm not even joking here," the quarterback raised his voice so everyone could hear him, "they're actual people that are completely obsessed with ghosts and dress up in spandex to go hunt them." Behind him, his ever-present group of followers began laughing in an annoying over-the-top manner.

Always the center of attention, it was no surprise everyone started regarding us more closely, scrutinizing us and waiting for their show to begin.

One of Dash's teammates Kyle Claybourne, who I'm pretty sure played wide-receiver, started guffawing. "Wait, that's actually true?" Kyle said in between chuckles, "I thought that was just a joke or something. I mean, that's just too ridiculous."

"Nope, it's all true, and get this; it's the best part." Dash leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "Fenton's parents are so fucked up that they're the ones that caused his _accident, _I mean, how screwed up in the head do you have to be to do something like that?"

I don't really know what I was thinking at that point, I was lost somewhere between pure rage and absolute disbelief, and all my earlier thoughts of, well... anything, fled my mind so completely that for a moment everything seemed to freeze, or at least slow down to the point where nothing noticeably moved. All the while something deep within me... I don't really know the words to describe it. It... _awakened. _Something that I knew in that instant had always been there with me for as long as I can remember. The power begged for release, I could feel it responding to my anger, thrashing and exploding, trying to drive itself free of whatever restraints were still holding it back and strike out at whatever threatened it. My chest tightened and my body felt as light as a feather, and for a moment I thought I could fly, unshackled from everything the world could possibly tie me down with.. And everything became so focused too. Things I'd never have noticed before dominated my senses relentlessly to the point I was sure I was feeling everything and nothing at the same time. It was the single most glorious experience of my life.

Then it ended.

The power, the sense, the time all retreated to its hidden corner in my mind, and I was brought back to normality so starkly that I didn't even know who I was and what I was doing. It took several moments for my synapses to start firing off correctly, my thought processes finally trying to make sense of what the hell just happened. The real world softly developed before my eyes, so muted compared to the wonder I'd gazed through, but at least it was familiar, a grounding force that reminded me to start thinking rationally again. Time flowed back to its normal speed, not snapping back instantly like it had first been stopped with, but sort of accelerating until it reached its usual speed, which was probably a good thing too, as it gave me the time to get myself rehabilitated. It's too bad that I still happened to be standing in front of Dash.

"Awww, is little baby Fenton crying?" Dash mocked, using that voice people speak to toddlers and dogs and the like with. Bringing my hands up to my face, I did indeed discover myself to be practically drenched with my own tears, right out in the open for everyone to see. _Oh shit._

They all began pointing and gesturing at me derisively, save the few like Emma and some others who could only look upon me with pity. I wasn't sure whose hurt more.

I stumbled back drunkenly, it felt like I was relearning how to walk upright again, which made it all the more embarrassing as I zigzagged my way to the bathrooms, their laughs echoing through the walls around me.

I managed to find my way to the door of the bathroom, clenching my hand around the handle, twisting it open and throwing myself inside before closing it behind me to muffle the sardonic cackling that followed me. Sagging against it I slowly drooped until I was sitting on the floor, my head sheltered under my arms. _What the hell was happening to me?_

Looking up at the far side of the spotlessly clean lavatory where a large mirror dominated the entire wall above several motion sensing faucets, it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't even know if I was alone, which was usually a prerequisite for dealing with these sorts of situations. You know… angsting, and stuff like that. Luckily, I had a good vantage point from my downed position, even able to see, uh, under the stalls… which I swear was not purposeful.

Making a mental note to wash my hands thoroughly as I used them to push myself off the floor, no matter how clean it looked, I sort of shuffled over to the sinks, swiping my hand under one of them to be greeted by a welcome blast of cold water. I let it collect in my cupped hands for a couple of seconds before splashing it over my face, rejuvenating me in a way that only seemed possible when they did it on TV. Taking several deep breaths to calm down my heart rate that had skyrocketed to danger levels sometime during my… _episode_. The uncomfortable grasping sensation returned in my chest, only this time to a much greater degree, like someone was strangling my windpipe really slowly. Fishing my inhaler out of my pocket, I repeated my routine again, except this time it took three full puffs of medicine laced gas to relieve the agitation. My full treatment at home would be agonizing at the rate I was going.

The grasping feeling stayed though, muted, but still constantly present like a bug bite you couldn't scratch. I scrutinized over every detail of my inhaler's ordinary appearance before squeezing my nail under its hidden latch to pop it open to its more interesting innards. Neon green ichor flowed through a set of intersecting tubes, constantly being pumped through a filter and back into its reservoir ready for use. Examining the dials located intermittently around the edges, I noticed the largest gauge was nearly all the way on the side branded with a single capital "E".

_Looks like I'm going to have to refill this too. _It's funny really, the very thing that made me the way I am now is the only thing keeping me alive. A chuckle filled with mirth escaped my lips, becoming just another tired sigh as I slipped my lifesaver back into my pocket to finally focus on my own haggard appearance. I looked as bad as usual, deep lines of weariness had etched themselves into the unhealthy, nearly translucent skin, giving me a hallowed empty visage, complete with full raccoon circles circumnavigating my dulled blue eyes. Disheveled black hair hid some of it, the unkempt mess of dead cells shadowing over my features to lessen the more severe details. It was sad, but I couldn't remember looking that much different than I did now.

By then I was sufficiently calmed down and rational, so I immediately focused on the weirdness this day had degenerated to, starting with the most pressing concern; my _not so little freakout_.

_First,_ _was I going crazy?_

Probably. An incurable illness and years of school bullying had to add up, definitely enough to cause possible psychological issues. But for the sake of personal reflection and discovery I'm going to pretend my mental faculties are still intact. Partially intact. Whatever.

_So_, _what the hell happened?_

No clue. The best I can come up with that makes any sort of sense is an extreme panic or anxiety attack, spawning a hallucinatory effect that made me experience things that weren't actually real. Something about the whole situation told me that no logical reasoning had any part in it though.

_Then,_ _why did it happen?_

It had to be something peculiar about me. Or maybe not, for all I knew Axion labs had a super electronic phasing decimator or something that emitted some sort of radiation or energy that started affecting me. But then why wasn't anyone else being affected by it? I'm sure that if it weren't for Dash and his friends unintentionally covering up my reaction as a response to their jeering then someone would have definitely noticed if I spontaneously began to cry and lose all sense of balance from a freaky hyperrealistic experience. Not to mention the dozens of employees who worked in this building year-round; plenty of opportunity for one of them to get exposed to the same hypothetical thing I did. And the timing was too perfect, the episode occurring almost exactly after my impromptu hazing, probably a direct result from the intensity of emotions flying through my head at the time. And the only thing I could think of that was special about me was the ectoplasm currently flowing through my entire body. Either way there isn't enough information to know for sure, and I'd just have to make it through the rest of the day to find out.

They only had motion sensing air dryers, so I had to wipe most of my face off on my clothes. I considered putting my entire face under it for a second after leaving a bunch cold water spots up and down my long-sleeve shirt, but I thankfully didn't go through with it. They had one of those super powerful Xlerators that practically rip the water off of your body, along with any skin that got in its way.

_Enough delaying, _I told myself, the sooner I got this over with the sooner I can just forget all about it. And who knows, a tour of one of the greatest scientific warehouses was definitely something to look forward to, even if I had to share the experience with some idiots that were annoying me.

Taking another deep breath, this time in preparation, I left the sanctuary of the bathroom. Everyone was still where they were before, except that Mr. Gray and Dr. Gauss had rejoined them at some point. They all seemed to have forgotten about me.

Trying to sneak back into the group I slithered slowly around them at a distance attempting to approach them from where most their backs were turned. I was halfway there when my teacher suddenly spun around, eyes locking onto me in surprise before he stormed over and grabbed me by the arm.

"Fenton! Where were you!?" he asked angrily, starting to drag me along with him. "While you've been off dillydallying we've had to delay the tour for you." _Dillydallying!? _Where the hell was this guy when I had to deal with Dash?

"Hey! Ow!" I exclaimed as his grip tightened painfully. He could at least be a little gentler about the whole thing.

"I hope you're happy with squandering your opportunities like this," he continued, "don't think just because of your condition you're entitled to special treatment. Do you see any of your friends acting out like you do?" He pointed to my class, waiting for an answer.

"But-" I tried explaining.

"_I said_, do you see any of your classmates acting like you do?" Looking at them, I saw a mix of expressions from the anger directed at our teacher from Emma, which was kinda nice, and and the malicious knowing grin from Dash that reignited my hatred for him all over again.

"Just let me-" I tried again, but it was useless. He didn't want to hear my opinion, he just wanted me to agree with him.

"One week's worth of detention, Mr. Fenton," he said vindictively, "right after school, no excuses. And don't think you'll be staying with us for our tour today. That's a privilege for the students who have earned it." He began pulling me towards the entrance of the building roughly, and I was almost sure I would cry of my own volition this time. The universe just had to hate Danny Fenton, it was the only explanation for why everything was so damn unfair.

"Hey, wait a second Mr. Reilly," surprisingly it was Emma who spoke out. "You think maybe you could make an exception, just this once?" She stumbled over her words a bit as everyone's attention turned to her, but she pushed through it, standing tall defiantly. "He promised he would help me out, with the school paper that is," she explained.

I felt my eyes widen as I stared at her in disbelief. Was she actually sticking up for me?

"Are you volunteering to join Mr. Fenton, Ms. Knight?" Mr. Reilly threatened ominously, trying to get her to back down.

Emma hesitated, glancing at me momentarily before smirking. "Yeah, I guess I am," she challenged.

Mr. Reilly opened and closed his mouth, but was left bereft of words. "You… You…" he finally managed, opening and closing his mouth in shock and frustration. He suddenly snapped his jaw shut, his whole body stiffening and the anger draining from his face completely until he more resembled a stoic sculpture than a short-tempered teacher. His eyes flashed a luminescent green and… wait a second.

I zeroed in back on his eyes with my full focus but they were already back to their normal unnoticeable brown color, if not a bit more dulled and emotionless than before though. He robotically turned his head back and forth, and peering down he stared at us unrecognizingly until we both started squirming uncomfortably. "You may continue," he said vacantly, releasing our arms and leaving everyone dumbfounded as he stiffly walked away.

"Sooo, I guess we're still allowed to go then?" Emma asked, rubbing her wrist unconciously.

I shrugged my shoulders, unsure myself. I squinted at Mr. Reilly's back suspiciously. _It was almost like he was… no… It couldn't be. _I looked at Emma contemplatively, trying to discern whether or not she saw it too.

She caught me staring and I quickly averted my eyes, a little blood rushing up to my cheeks, which was probably _very _conspicuous given my pallor. "What?" She asked, a hint of a smile tugging at her cheeks.

"Nothing," I said a little too quickly. "It's just that… no one's ever done something like that for me before."

"It's something I should've done a long time ago," she replied regretfully. "I'm still going to need your help writing that paper though."

I smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

XxX

**Author's Note:** **Sooo... yeah. It's been in my mind to write this for a while now, and it has been written, multiple times in fact. This is my rewrite of my rewrite of my rewrite and so on. Putting this out was kind of impulsive, this wasn't even supposed to be the full chapter, I'm just cutting it off here and finally posting it before I decide to rewrite it again. So tell me what you think... and ignore the Doogie Howser reference.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Wow... did not expect this to come out so soon. A couple thousand words in less than a week is, a lot, for me at least. I was going to withhold this chapter for a while, post it after I had written a bit for chapter 3, but what the hell, here it is. Just means number 3 is going to take longer to get out after this one. To the people that took the time to review, thank you, especially Mr. Guest reviewer. I know who you are, you can't hide from me. And yes, Sam and Tucker will be in this story, just give it time. I mean, come on, it wouldn't be Danny Phantom without those two being somewhere in it. Now... onto the story!**

XxX

"Are we done?" Dr. Gauss cut in abruptly wearing a deadpanned expression. "We've wasted enough of my time as is, I don't need any teen drama delaying us any further."

"No we don't, Doc, no we don't." Mr. Gray chuckled. "Come on kids, over here to the giant metal thingy. I'm sure you noticed it earlier on when you first arrived." Leading us over to the vault door, which probably stood somewhere around 15 feet tall, it was certainly imposing. We all gawked at the number of different tests Mr. Gray had to go through to bypass just one of the locks on the door. Voice recognition, retina scanning, fingerprint reader, just to name a few of the really obvious ones, and who knows how many more there were that I couldn't see. It's like the makers of it just accounted for every type of subterfuge possible and put it in one system.

"Alright! Done!" Mr. Gray exclaimed. "Sorry about the whole charade this thing put on, but it's necessary. Axion Labs is working on a lot of projects, some of them world-changing, and therefore worth a lot of money. That provides a lot of incentive to get the best security there is, in order to make sure no one gets any funny ideas and tries to steal something. Any of our competitors would pay top dollar for even a smidgen of research from us."

"And I will have to remind you not to take anything, even if it looks 'shiny'." Dr. Gauss added scathingly. "People, smarter ones than you that is, have tried and failed on every occasion. The punishment I'm told is very… uncomfortable." He actually grinned at that. The first (sort of) smile I'd ever seen him crack and I hoped he never did it again. It was worse than Dash's.

The class shivered in unison, edging a little bit further away from him except for a few girls who gazed at him adoringly. That seemed to put him off a bit.

"Don't worry about that," Mr. Gray said, getting a bit exasperated. "For now let's finally begin your journey into the workings of Axion Laboratories." Pressing one more key, a series of hissing sounds came from the door before it opened inwards, giving us our first glimpses of a… hallway.

Don't get me wrong, it was a pretty cool hallway, like the kind they reused for every single part of a starship on a tv-show, only it was more streamlined, probably because it hadn't been made out of cardboard, plastic, and LED lights. And instead of the eye-searing _ghost_-white pallet of the room we were currently in this one was composed of grays and silvers, with a little bronze thrown in as well.

Mr. Gray walked inside followed immediately by Dr. Gauss and a strangely acting Mr. Reilly, their shoes clicking serendipitously together for a little bit before Mr. Gray stopped and turned back towards us. "Well?" He asked. "What are you waiting for, come on!"

XxX

"So… it was Emma, right?" I whispered over my shoulder hurriedly as the whole class jumped into motion, trying to keep up with them. If anything, I was glad the place was so heavily air conditioned, or I'd probably already be a blubbering mess on the floor just from the exertion alone. Out of shape? Check.

"Yep!" Emma replied exuberantly. Her shoulder-length dirty blonde hair swayed rhythmically as we speed walked, and only when we were sufficiently caught up did she continue. "We actually have some of our classes together; Physics with Mr. Reilly being one of them."

Grrr. Just mentioning that guy pissed me off now. I couldn't even rightly call him my teacher; he would actually need to teach me something for that to be true. Why he ever decided to work at a high school I will never know.

And I still needed to keep an eye on him. Just to make sure. As that overused saying goes, better safe than sorry.

"Huh... I guess I just never noticed," I said thoughtfully. Truthfully, I don't even know half of the names of the people in all my classes. It never even really became a problem. Names don't really matter that much when you try to avoid conversations altogether.

We continued on like that for a little bit, periodically passing by doors labeled with different number/letter combinations like D-8, or I-12, which were interspersed throughout several different hallways that branched out from the one we were currently in. Almost like a countdown, the further we walked the lower in the alphabet we went, and we were starting to run out of letters.

We were just passing the Y's when Dr. Gauss stopped and addressed us. "Axion Labs is involved in nearly every scientific subject there is," he said, "beyond these doors, are our greatest achievements, this one in particular being the most magnanimous of them all." He closed in on the last door, the only significant difference about it being the bolded letter above it.

**Z**

Swiping his keycard on the pad next to the door, it turned green and we all scrambled through after him, a little eager to find out what he was talking about.

Getting in after the bulk of my class had already entered before us, it didn't take me long to find out why most of them had confused looks on their faces. One girl who was snapping photos with her phone (which I'm pretty sure were all confiscated before we even got here) had a particularly disappointed expression at the apparent emptiness we were faced with. The room was dimly lit, and entirely devoid of anything save for a single metal rod about a meter and a half in height sticking straight up in the middle of it.

"What's so special about this thing?," one of my classmates said, reaching out with his hand to grab the circular pole. Before he could touch it though it suddenly sparked alive with a turquoise flash, startling the boy into drawing his hand back and making him fall backwards on his ass with a yelp. Everyone watched with rapt attention as the light began structuring itself, slowly coalescing together starting at the floor and working its way up. At first I thought it was making a strange shutter clicking noise as well, but it was just the girl with her phone repeatedly tapping her screen taking picture after picture.

"I'm not a thing."

Everyone who wasn't already frozen watching the spectacle became as still as stone when a feminine, yet distinctly mechanical voice spoke from all directions around the room. The light finally finished merging together, forming the image of a female teenager, one with a sad, almost hurtful expression. She was looking down at my fallen classmate, the one who had called her "a thing", and despite the lack of threatening intent on her part he was absolutely paralyzed with fear, eyes wide and practically hyperventilating himself to a brain aneurysm.

Dr, Gauss, completely undisturbed by the reactions of everyone around him, calmly walked over to the hologram, standing next to her as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "This," Dr. Gauss said, gesturing to the hologram "is Zeta. The world's first and _only _functioning Artificial Intelligence."

Mutterings spread through the class, and I heard a whispered "No way," from Emma as she whipped out a small notepad and started jotting things down.

I had to hesitantly agree with everyone else as my own fears ascended in my mind, an artificial intelligence was, well… it wasn't wrong per se, but it was unknown territory. You're creating a sentient being, one that thinks, feels, and adapts as any living creature would, but also in a way that may be completely misunderstood. There are so many questions that need to be asked first, so many variables that need to be addressed, nothing is certain. Besides, if you've seen The Terminator or The Matrix you've got a basic idea of the worst case scenario machines overthrow humanity spiel.

Guess it's too late for second thoughts now though.

Dr. Gauss turned towards the hologram, motioning his hands again. "Go on, Zeta," he said.

Zeta put on a tentative smile and lifted her left hand in greeting, the whole arm up to her shoulder shimmering out of focus from the movement until the projector recalibrated itself and it phased back into clarity. "Hello," she… it... said shyly, if that was even possible. The synthesized voice was at the point where it was almost completely indistinguishable from the real thing, with only a slight vibration difference you really had to listen for in order to tell the difference.

"I-isn't it going to try and kill us or something like that!?" one girl screamed, trying to huddle behind a makeshift wall of meatshields fashioned from her friends. The A.I.'s smile faltered slightly, its fragile structure somewhat damaged but still intact.

"Hollywood sensationalism I'm sure," Dr. Gauss drawled, bristling a little bit in annoyance. "Their aggrandizement of artificial intelligences limited us to the lowest level of research possible, their fear of the unknown once again getting in the way." He suddenly made his way to the girl who was trying to use her iphone to take pictures of everything, snatching the device out of her hands and holding up for everyone to see. "That is, of course, until they came out with these." He pressed and held the home button down for a couple seconds, letting the screen shift until Siri popped up and started spewing out nonsense. Silencing her mid-speech with a single click of the power button Dr. Gauss smiled sardonically, holding the iphone tantalizingly out of reach from its owner.

"Suddenly it's "the next big thing" and we're getting complaints about why we haven't been developing this technology further." Dr. Gauss continued sarcastically, frowning in disgust. "Even then, we've taken every precaution imaginable." Actually walking through the virtual girl, her entire form splaying outwards around him as he tapped the cylinder with his index finger and a holographic keyboard sprouted into existence from it, flashing keys lighting up as he began typing on it. "Firewalls that would take the most powerful supercomputer months, if not years to break through have been installed. Zeta has no ethernet or Wi-Fi connectivity, and therefore no access to the internet. There are also a multitude of directives and blocks, each one were it to be violated would put her in immediate shutdown. In essence, she's on indefinite lockdown."

"How come _she's_ a girl?" Dash asked, recovering before everyone else around him.

Dr. Gauss's fingers froze mid-sentence, the letters he was currently hovering over remaining lit, and he glared daggers at the football player with all the supreme hatred he could muster. "What," he growled, "did I say about interrupting me!"

Dash looked away, cowed, and I had to hide the massive smile I sported behind my arm lest he or someone else saw it. I suppose it's not right to delight in someone else's suffering, with it being a bit hypocritical of me, but nobody's perfect. So I delighted in it.

Mr. Gray, who had been remaining incognito in the very back gave Dr. Gauss a sharp look, commencing a silent staring contest between the two that had Dr. Gauss calling on all the glare reserves he had.

Unlike Dash though, Mr. Gray didn't look away.

"Tch," Dr. Gauss grunted, finally relenting after several seconds of deafening silence, his permanent scowl deepening.

He finished typing up whatever he needed to on the holo-keyboard, dispersing it by waving his hand through it and watching as all the pixels faded into oblivion. "_Now_, you may ask your inane questions," he stressed, clearly emphasizing what he thought about having to deal with _that_.

My class all looked at each other, waiting for someone else to say something before they decided to do anything themselves. It was more awkward than that one time my best friend, Tucker, tried getting my sister to go out with him on a date. _Tried, _being the operative world. Damn, at least it was never boring with him around.

Emma finally raised her hand hesitantly. "Why is she called Zeta?" she asked.

"Well you see," Dr. Gauss started off insultingly, "Zeta is the sixth letter in the Greek Alphabet. You would know that if you had half an education."

Emma rolled over his tone, seemingly undaunted, "Wait, if Zeta is the sixth, are you implying that there was more than one?"

Dr. Gauss's eyes flashed in genuine fear for the briefest instant, his structured persona unraveling like the final parts of a mystery novel. "N-None that were successful," he said, composing himself. "There were 24 attempts, one for every letter of the Greek Alphabet, each with different parameters set in for them. We tried to make them as human as humanly possible. It's unfortunately Zeta was the only one that survived."

Holy crap. They were trying to make 24 of them!? So much for taking precautions. Although, the Fenton's weren't really known for taking cautionary measures either. It's all, "what happens to a dead turkey when exposed to ectoplasm?," or "is it possible to punch a hole in reality using a quantum tunneling device?" Reanimated thanksgiving dinners and dimensional portals be damned, whatever happened to restraint?

I winced inwardly as I recalled my last experiment gone wrong. I hoped Jazz wasn't still to mad at me for ruining her hair dryer. I swear I just wanted to see how hot I could get it to go. I never intended to heat it up to the point where it actually started melting itself.

But I digress.

"Does she feel?" asked, surprisingly, Kwan Sung, a linebacker for the football team and also one of Dash's closest compadres.

"Isn't that the question of the day?" Dr. Gauss pondered. "Does she truly feel what she feels, or is she merely programmed to act and respond the way she does. If you think so, then I must remind you that the human brain is just a highly developed computer itself. You are programmed to think and act a certain way through the culmination of your experiences, which condition you to react the way you do to things. It comes down to at what point you separate conscious thought from primal instincts." He had been getting more and more excited as he went on philosophizing, shutting up and reverting back to his usual sneer only when he realized he was talking to a crowd of blank and uncaring highschoolers.

He wasn't the only when in a bad mood however. What had started out as a slightly hopeful expression for Zeta had morphed into an emotionless mask more fitting with the A.I. Archetype.

No one liked being talked about in the 3rd person when they were right there. And I suppose it was up to me to do something about that.

"So what do you like to do for fun?" I called out to her.

Zeta blinked, the advanced resolution of the image capturing her evident surprise. "...for fun?" She whispered, as if this was the first time she had even heard the concept.

"Yeah, you know, reading, video games, that sort of thing," I listed off, shrugging my shoulders. "What do you enjoy doing?" Hmm. I'm usually not this talkative. Must be something in the air.

Dr. Gauss stepped in between us, obscuring my view of Zeta. "That'll be enough of that," he said snidely. "Zeta has no time for the trivialities that entertain you half-witted boofoons. Especially an incompetent Fenton like you."

I'm pretty sure I managed to keep myself from reacting outwardly to his taunts but he must have noticed something anyways. "Oh!" He exclaimed. "Thought I wouldn't know who you were?" He smirked, crossing his arms and looking down through his glasses at me. "Your family is infamous for their failures, and even more so for their idiocy."

Maybe I was just a little drained from before, but Dr. Gauss's vitriol only served to calm me down, my anger becoming cold contempt as he tried getting a rise out of me.

A pair of hands suddenly found themselves on both of our chests courtesy of Mr. Gray, separating us from each other. "That's enough Marcus," he said sternly. "It's very unbecoming of you."

Dr. Gauss swatted Mr. Gray's hand away. "Fine," he growled, glaring at me over Mr. Gray's shoulder. "Let's just get this over with." He spun around to Zeta, who let a forlorn expression come over her. "Zeta: Shut Down," he commanded.

Zeta nodded solemnly, the holographic representation of the A.I. collapsing in on itself, the metallic cylinder dimming down until only the faintest glow remained.

That soon disappeared as well.

Dr. Gauss swept out of the room without another word, leaving my class scrambling madly to chase after him.

"Wow," Emma said, coming up alongside me. "That guy has some serious issues."

"Yeah, it usually takes a little bit longer for someone to start hating me," I mused thoughtfully. If I had one of those long badass beards I would probably be stroking it right now.

"Very funny." Emma paused for a moment before asking excitedly. "So what do you think? Was that actually an Artificial Intelligence?"

"I don't know," I told her, unsure myself. It's not like there's a test you can run that tells you whether it is or not. "Whatever it is though, it's on a whole other level than anything the world's ever seen before."

After that, nothing else we saw really compared. It was all stuff that people had already figured out, like carbon nanotubes or some other interesting science tidbit people liked to go on about telling everyone "Isn't that amazing?" and posting it all over social media.

The whole thing was a sham. Axion Labs was probably just trying to increase their PR or something like that.

"Hey," Emma nudged me on the shoulder, trying to get my attention. "You know where Mr. Reilly went?"

I looked around trying to spot him. "There he is," I pointed out behind us, where the retreating form of our science teacher had just turned the corner into a different hallway. What the heck was he doing?

The entire tour he'd been remarkably silent, never once reprimanding the students for anything. He hasn't even gleefully reminded me of my punishment. He loves doing that sort of thing.

"Let's follow him," Emma said rebelliously, grabbing my arm and dragging us both after him.

"Hey! Emma, wait a second!" I tried struggling, futilely, I might add, and she continued pulling me undeterred. "C'mon, they're going to notice we're gone," I complained.

"Oh, don't be such a baby. We'll only be gone for 30 seconds," she not-so-reassuringly reassured.

We turned into the same hallway our teacher had just a little bit before, finding it completely empty save for one door at the end of it.

"Well," Emma said, "I guess we know where he went at least." I finally stopped trying to resist, more than a little interested myself as to what lay behind the door, and why Mr. Reilly had gone through it.

As we got closer we noticed that right next to the door there was a lone keypad, most definitely a security measure to prevent unauthorized people from entering.

It had been smashed in.

Sparks suddenly shot out of it, making us both jump backwards with a squeal and a scream. I wasn't sure whose was whose. "Y-You don't think he… I mean… it's ludicrous," I breathed out heavily in disbelief, still a bit startled.

"Only one way to find out." Emma put her hand on the door and pushed it open.

XxX

"You know what Carl? You know what really pisses me off?"

"Please, do tell me," Carl responded, humoring his coworker.

"It's that they don't even _try_ keeping the cages clean when they put these freaks of nature down."

"Hmm, yeah, sure. Whatever you say." Carl continued mopping up the mess.

"Then, _Then, _mind you, they leave us to wash everything up after the sick fucks are done with them." _Squelch. _"Aw, shit! Carl, I just stepped in some of this green goop, help me get this crap off of me… Carl?... Carl!?" Georgie looked over for his partner, only to find his mop lying unattended on the ground, its holder nowhere in sight.

"Uhhh… Carl?" He walked over to the fallen stick, picking it up and examining it.

_Drip. Drip Drip. _Georgie felt something wet land on his hand, holding it up to discover it was covered by red streaks. _Blood._

But Georgie wasn't concerned about that anymore. He was staring at the ceiling with what can only be described as pure horror, his eyes frozen unblinkingly as his pupils dilated in fear, because right above him was Carl, held upside down halfway melded into the wall leaving only his chest and head visible. Crimson liquid fell liberally from where he and the ceiling had fused together, some of it splashing down on Georgie's twitching face. The worst part? Carl was _still alive_.

The splinched man took in a shuddering breath, his whole body shaking and spasming violently, but he remained fixed to the surface, completely immovable. He wouldn't make it that much longer.

All at once Georgie's instincts screamed at him, breaking him out of his stupor as he threw himself forward, the experiences of his hard times trying to make it out on the Streets of Amity saving his life as a hand that had previously been invisible clenched where his body had been just milliseconds before. He hit the ground rolling, coming up facing whatever it was that had almost gotten him.

What had started as a simple detached hand spread out, becoming an arm first, then a torso and then a full body that had seemingly sprung out from nothingness.

The adversary was dressed in unremarkable working clothes, as if he'd just been on his way to his job, his glowing green eyes boring holes through Georgie, the mere pressure of his presence suffocating him. Georgie pulled his hidden switchblade from somewhere on his body, thanking whatever diety that hadn't put him in this mess in the first place for at least something to defend himself with.

"Who… _What _are you?" Georgie questioned apprehensively, levelling his knife at his opponent.

Radioactive orbs glanced over at the viridescent sludge covering the floor, sadness reflecting in them as they filled up with tears, and he stared wondrously at the warm droplets as he brushed them off on his hand.

"It's been such a long time since I was able to cry," he finally spoke, the deep, tremulous voice sounding far too out of match with his form to be even remotely considered human. Georgie likened it to that of the shifting Earth, its slowly sliding tectonic plates almost unnoticeably gaining more and more ground until it suddenly snapped, the hidden power beneath the surface finally released in the form of an Earth-shattering quake. He anxiously noted that it sounded closer to that snapping point than he felt comfortable with.

"You… you're one of _them, _Aren't you!?" Georgie realized in a flash, taking a step back in fear.

"You, _Human_, have attacked, tortured, and experimented on my kin, shoveling away their remains like they were _garbage_!" He spat out with such force that Georgie was forced back several meters, his back slamming painfully against the wall behind him.

"For that… I will kill you."

The floor next to the man started changing, twisting and shaping upwards until it formed an outrageously large warhammer that appeared to be made out of stone, gravel, and rock, ancient glowing runes and glyphs running across its entirety.

The being inhabiting the physics teacher Charles Reilly charged forwards, swinging the gargantuan weapon as if it were made out of air.

Georgie's last thoughts were those damning whatever deity had pitted him up against this thing with only a fucking knife.

XxX

**Author's Note: Whoa, that escalated quickly. I'm pretty sure I stole the whole A.I. and the Greek Alphabet from Red vs Blue, but whatever. They probably stole it from something else themselves anyways. And no, you don't need to know anything about RvB, going completely separate directions than what they did with it. So, yeah. Leave your thoughts so I can improve both the story and my writing. Any suggestions, criticisms, whatever, just send them to me, and I'll be happy to take them into account. Other than that, Happy Holidays, and good luck using them to achieve your more materialistic goals. I know I will. **


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